Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy
Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy is the eighth episode of the second season of Monk (TV series). Synopsis When the publisher of the high-powered glamour Sapphire Magazine is strangled to death on his exercise weights under mysterious circumstances, all clues lead to the infamous swinging party palace, Sapphire Mansion, and the playboy behind the magazine. But while a weekend behind the gates of the legendary estate may be every man's fantasy, it is Adrian Monk's worst nightmare. Plot Dexter Larsen is the publisher of the men's magazine Sapphire, and he has it all – money, luxury cars, the run of the notorious Sapphire Mansion, and scores of beautiful women competing for his attention. But it is all about to come to a screeching halt when one Saturday, Elliot D'Souza, the CFO for the magazine's publishing company, meets Dex for a private meeting and demands to talk. In Dex's office, D'Souza explains to him that the magazine has been operating at a loss for quite some time, thanks in no small part to Dex's extravagance combine with the rise of the Internet, and he's pulling the plug. His decision is final, though he concedes to Dex's request to have a weekend to process the news. It's clear, though, that Dex has other ideas. The next morning, D'Souza is in his penthouse, working out in his private gym, when Dex calls on the speakerphone, asking him once more if he'll change his mind. D'Souza refuses to change his mind, so Dex suggests keeping the mansion open to lease or rent the space out to others. D'Souza refuses this as well, citing that the mansion has too much red tape on it that will likely take weeks, if not months, to clear up, and insists that the only way they can profit from it is to sell it. Dex then ends the call, although not before cryptically warning, "It's your funeral." D'Souza tries to tell him that he doesn't need to be melodramatic, but is cut mid-sentence when the barbell he is bench-pressing with crashes down on his neck, and the luckless D'Souza chokes to death. D'Souza's secretary is certain that what happened to him was no accident, and calls Adrian Monk and Sharona Fleming in privately, telling them she suspects Dex killed D'Souza to keep him from shutting down Sapphire. Examining D'Souza's gym, Monk feels there is something wrong with the room, but he can't put his finger on what, although he notices some interesting details, such as the fact that the clock is about 40 minutes slow, and all of the pens and staplers are facing the same direction. Also, when they examine D'Souza's personal computer, they find that the hardrive has been completely erased. Moreover, the room was locked from the inside, and D'Souza was alone when he was killed (the only way into his penthouse is a private elevator). Which means that for all intents and purposes, there was no way anyone could've gotten into his penthouse to kill him. Despite the lack of evidence to point to murder, Monk and Sharona believe that Dex's supposed motive is enough reason to at least investigate him. Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher are satisfied with the official verdict that D'Souza's death was an accident, but when they learn that Monk and Sharona have an appointment to interview Dex at his mansion, they leap at the chance to tagalong. The gang questions Dex at his house about the morning of D'Souza's death. Dex feigns innocence, but Monk catches him in a number of lies: he says he was in bed with his girlfriend, Sapphire girl Amber Post, all night and all morning, and he called D'Souza that morning (as confirmed by the phone records), but why did he use his cell phone to make the call instead of the landline phone on the nightstand? Also, the earring Dex which claims Amber left in the bed that Saturday night is meant for pierced ears, and Amber's ears are not pierced. Finally, Monk questions the other guests and learns that Dex insisted that his celebrity pal Danny Bonaduce stay the night at the mansion to avoid driving home drunk on the night before D'Souza was killed, when Danny himself insists he was sober that night. Looking in the garage, Monk notices that a battery is missing from one of Dex's Mercedes convertibles, and he finds cigar ash in the ashtray in Bonaduce's car that is consistent with the Cuban cigars that Dex smokes. While Monk is looking at Bonaduce's car, he's interrupted when Dex shows up and produces his ace in the hole: a set of nude photos of Sharona, taken back when she was a single mother struggling to make ends meet. Dex threatens to publish the photos if Monk doesn't agree to drop the case. Stottlemeyer and Disher take Amber in for questioning. Her persistent refusal to change her story leads them to decide that she is covering for Dex, and they turn to Monk for help. Insincerely, Monk admits he was wrong, and D'Souza's death was nothing more than an unfortunate accident. Wondering why Monk would drop a case he was so close to solving, Sharona pressures him for answers. Reluctantly, Monk tells her about the photos and Dex's threat to publish them. Sharona is mortified, and insists that they return to the mansion to try and get the photos back and expose Dex for the murder. Monk and Sharona crash a large party, where Amber has been crowned Sapphire's Girl of the Year. As they wander around separately, Monk stumbles into one room of the house where he meets Noelle Winters, one of Dex's Sapphire Girls from the 1980s when he first started the magazine. When Monk finds her, she is in the middle of practicing the "Fur Elise" on the piano. Noelle has nothing but kind words for Dex, who recently purchased an apartment for her, and sent her to Europe on a promotional tour. Noticing his wedding ring, she asks Monk politely about his wife – and before long, an entire throng of partygoers are listening, teary-eyed, to Monk reminiscing about Trudy (some even decide to leave the party and go home early). Separately, Sharona is surprised to see Amber Post, the woman of the hour, off by herself, crying softly. The two women bond when Amber shows pictures of her four-year-old daughter, and worries that she'll be ashamed of her mother when she grows up. Sharona sympathizes, admitting the similarities between their situations, but the important thing is dealing with the present. Sharona then finds a hidden entrance to a basement workshop, a memento of Dex's previous career as an electrician and gadgetmaker. In it, she finds Dex working on a small project, who knows why she's there. Sharona demands the photos, but Dex smugly refuses to turn them over to her. Sharona storms back to Monk and tells him to do anything to get him for the murder. Out of precaution in case Dex does run the photos, Sharona warns Benjy about the impending threat, though doesn't go into more specific details. Benjy assures her that he can handle it, and not to let a "bad guy" off the hook because of him. Monk and Sharona return to D'Souza's gym, trying again to figure out what is wrong with the crime scene. An answer comes for them when they hear the sound of someone playing the "Fur Elise" on a piano in the apartment below. To Monk and Sharona's shock, it's Noelle Winters' apartment. Monk, remembering what Noelle had said at the party about Dex finding the apartment for her, asks if she was aware that lives directly beneath D'Souza's penthouse. Noelle admits she wasn't aware of that, just that D'Souza lived in the building. Monk also learns that Dex had sent her away almost immediately after she moved in for the promotional tour, which she hasn't had time to unpack from. Monk then notices a set of imprints in the carpet by the coffee table. When he finds that they came from a stepladder in the closet, he solves the case. Here's What Happened Dex finds the police waiting for him when he comes home. Stottlemeyer, Monk and Sharona are in his dining room, and they produce a search warrant authorizing them to look for evidence that he killed D'Souza. He is more exasperated to find one of his expensive Carvasia statuettes sitting on the table. Dex tries to pick it up, but it won't budge, as if it is glued to the table. Monk offers to try out, and he lifts the statuette easily. They then push a chair aside to reveal Randy underneath the table, holding a giant electromagnet. Dex tries to feign ignorance, but Stottlemeyer notes that the magnet was in his secret basement, covered in his fingerprints. The magnet is actually strong enough, as Monk notes, to lift a car, and is the weapon that killed D'Souza. Dex had an extensive background as an electronics designer. In his free time, he built his giant electromagnet over the weeks prior to the murder. The magnet he built required a car battery, which he took from his own Mercedes. As he couldn't risk being seen in one of his own cars, he borrowed Bonaduce's car instead. As he had found Noelle Winters' apartment for her, he had copies of all her keys. Dex had sent Noelle to Europe, so he knew the apartment wouldn't be occupied when he broke in. He also was familiar with D'Souza's workout routine, so he knew when he needed to be around to commit the murder. He set up a ladder from the closet, holding the magnet to the ceiling of Noelle's apartment. Dex then called D'Souza to make sure he was in position, and then activated the magnet, pulling the barbell down on D'Souza's neck. The magnet was more successful than Dex expected, as not only did it do its job of killing D'Souza, but it also erased his computer harddrive, threw his clock off, and all other metal objects swiveled to face towards the center of the room. Dex scoffs, saying they have no proof that breaks his alibi. Only for his alibi witness, Amber, to suddenly enter and recant her earlier statement. With Sharona's encouragement, she has decided to tell the truth: that Dex offered to make her Girl of the Year if she lied and said he was with her at the time of the murder. Feeling proud of herself, she tosses her prizes back at Dex, saying she doesn't want or need them. Dex is subsequently arrested. Randy finds the photos and negatives of Sharona in Dex's office, and, with her watching, burns them. But she asks Randy if he sneaked a peek first, and Randy, without answering her question, walks away. Trivia *Danny Bondaduce is mentioned in Mr. Monk and the Paperboy: Kevin Dorfman calls him. 2.08 Category:Season 2